Katie and Wayne from Rochester

Our Story:In March of 2008, I moved 1,200 miles away from my native Iowa to Rochester, New York. I was 21 and moved to erase a bad relationship from my memory. I went the entire summer without a furry friend and it was driving me absolutely nuts. Throughout the summer, I had a hard time waking up in the morning and actually cringed at the idea of going out to enjoy the beautiful summer weather since I really had no reason to. I hesitated at the idea of getting a dog, because I knew I would need to focus on getting a full time job and I sure didn’t want a dog to pay for the price of me always working.

In mid-May, I went to a job interview. I was greeted at the door by a 95-pound boxer-mastiff mix. Naturally, I was confused. A dog at a place where people work? Whaaaat?

My interviewer, now my boss, greeted me warmly and introduced me to her dog, Lucy. Throughout the interview, Lucy rested her massive head in my lap and whined whenever I stopped petting her. My boss often explains that Lucy’s affection towards me was what convinced her I was worthy of being hired.

That was it. I could bring a dog to work!

I decided to begin my search for a dog I could call my own. I logged on to petfinder.com and browsed… and browsed… and browsed. I decided that pictures could never do a good dog justice, and that meeting a dog in person was the way to go.

I rounded up a few close friends of mine and headed to Lollypop farms in Fairport, NY.

As I was gushing at all of the beautiful dogs for adoption, I came across Wayne. His fur was matted and dull, but his eyes shone with happiness at seeing a human stop in front of his cage. Wayne put both of his paws on the kennel door and whined. His head cocked, his ears…one up in sharp attention, one laid lazily on the top of his head. I fell in love instantly.

The first few weeks together with Wayne were difficult. He pulled on the leash hard enough to dislocate my shoulder, obliterated a few pillows (silk threaded pillows, no less), chewed up my sheets, and went trash-diving whenever I wasn’t looking. But… at the end of each day, Wayne would hop up in my bed, curl up in the crook of my legs, and fall fast asleep. It was then I knew that all the mischievous things he did made our time together sweeter.

Wayne is now well-behaved, but still has that mischievous gleam in his eye that I fell in love with. I take him everywhere with me, and feel a pang of sadness when I have to leave him at home.

Getting Wayne was the best thing I could have done, since this summer is already proving to be a great one. We’ve already gone swimming in Lake Ontario!